Golden Hall of Taihe Palace, Taoist temple in Kunming, China.

The Golden Hall of Taihe Palace is a bronze hall cast to imitate a wooden frame, sitting east-facing on a two-tiered marble sumeru pedestal inside a brick walled enclosure. It is 6.2 m wide and 6.7 m tall, with a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof carried by twelve eave pillars and four thicker bronze columns, three eave pillars and one column at each corner. Five bronze doors open on the west; the other sides are fixed bronze panels with wan-character lattice and cloud-dragon, qilin, crane and flower motifs. Inside, a marble floor, a seated Zhenwu statue and an octagonal coiled-dragon coffered ceiling.

The Taoist temple was first built in 1602 under Yunnan governor Chen Yongbin, modelled on the Golden Hall of Wudang Mountain in Hubei and finished in 1604. In 1637 governor Zhang Fenghe moved the original hall to Jizushan in Binchuan, where it was destroyed in 1966. Wu Sangui rebuilt the present bronze hall on this site in 1671, using over 250 tons of copper.

The hall is a Taoist temple dedicated to Zhenwu, the Perfected Warrior, whose statue sits at the centre with attendants Lingguan and Yunü and two generals holding a banner and sword. Its name comes from the bronze that shines like gold in sunlight. Each lunar new year, residents climb Mingfeng Shan before dawn on the ninth day to burn incense here, and a temple fair follows the next day.

Visiting involves navigating multiple levels, which may be challenging for those with limited mobility. Wear comfortable shoes and allow time to explore the various rooms and architectural details at a relaxed pace.

The hall's bronze roof tiles, doors, columns and altar were cast from about 250 tons of copper, and the surrounding walls, banners and even the flagpole finial are bronze too, so the whole compound glints gold in sunlight. The name Jindian, "Golden Hall", comes from this effect rather than from gilding.